Forth Valley Royal Hospital celebrated its 5^th birthday on Wednesday 6^th July 2016 and, to mark this important milestone, staff from different wards and departments across the hospital came together in the atrium to say Happy Birthday.

A party also took place in the Children’s Ward to welcome back some of the first babies who were born at the hospital when the new maternity unit opened on 12th July 2011.

NHS Forth Valley’s Head of Midwifery Gillian Morton said it was amazing to think that the tiny babies born in 2011 were now preparing to start school.  She said: “Over the past five years 15,532 babies have been born in Forth Valley Royal Hospital and it’s lovely to welcome back some of our very first arrivals for a joint 5^th birthday celebration.”

Forth Valley Royal Hospital, which was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip on 6^th July 2011, brought together acute hospital services previously provided at Falkirk and Stirling Royal infirmaries.  Covering a site the size of 9 football pitches, it is one of the most modern and well equipped hospitals in Europe.

The sheer scale of the construction project meant that services transferred across on a phased basis. First to move into the new building were inpatient services from Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary, followed by inpatient mental health services from Stirling and Falkirk and finally inpatient, emergency and maternity services from the former Stirling Royal Infirmary.

The last five years have been a very busy time for the hospital and during this period it has provided care and treatment to thousands of patient across Forth Valley.   This includes 365,698 attendances at the Emergency Department and more than 36,000 operations.  Catering staff have also served more than 6 million patient meals and porters have made more than 866,601seperate trips to transport patients across the hospital.

Forth Valley Royal Hospital embraced the use of new technology from the outset and was the first hospital in the UK to use a fleet of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to deliver a wide range of supplies to hospital wards. These ‘robotic’ vehicles, which resemble mini fork lift trucks, travel in their own separate corridors and lifts carrying bed linen, meals, clinical waste and medical supplies.

Other innovations at the hospital include a fully robotic pharmacy system, capable of labelling medicines as well as stocking supplies and picking up drugs and a robotic mail sorting system, the first of its kind in Europe to be used in a healthcare setting. Robotic equipment is also used to help clean the hospital’s 16 hi-tech operating theatres.

Over the last year the hospital has also developed close links with many partners including Forestry Commission Scotland, who have created a network of woodland walks and installed a viewing platform over the loch, and Maggie’s Caring Cancer Centres who are due to open a new Maggie’s Forth Valley centre on the hospital site later this summer. The hospital is also supported by a wide network of local volunteers and fundraisers.

Notes

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Births/

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Publications/data-tables.asp?id=1669#1669

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Hospital-Care/Operations-and-Procedures/